House clears streamlined energy spending bill

The measure, which passed 227-198, was even more polarizing than last year’s. | Reuters

Both Democrats and Republicans were united, however, in protecting the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste project despite tough opposition from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who successfully blocked funding for the program in the early years of the Obama administration.

The House reissued its call to provide set-aside money for the NRC’s review of Yucca Mountain and added a section that ensures DOE couldn’t use funding in other parts of the bill for “actions that irrevocably remove the possibility that Yucca Mountain may be a repository option in the future.”

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Frelinghuysen defended the bill’s language when pressed by Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions (R-Texas) about the wisdom of putting more money into the project, knowing that Reid has excised it in the past. “With all due respect, the Senate leader may not be around in the future,” he said.

In its veto threat, the White House said it was “disappointed” that House appropriators “failed to embrace the practical solutions proposed in the president’s Nuclear Waste Strategy” and continued to stand by Yucca.

There also was bipartisan support for protecting USEC-friendly language from a two-pronged attack Wednesday by Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas), who also managed the bill on the floor for his party.

Burgess’s amendments attempted to cut out the $48 million in the bill slated for the uranium enrichment company’s Ohio project — funding that would bridge the final gap the demonstration project needs to be completed by the end of the year before USEC reapplies for a $2 billion Energy Department loan guarantee.

Also, Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), who has routinely offered budget-cutting amendments to energy programs in the past, said Wednesday that she was so pleased with the deep overall cuts in the bill that she didn’t need to slash it any more. Instead, she found something else at DOE to put in her cross hairs: the agency’s efforts to heighten the efficiency of ceiling fans.

“We’ve already seen the federal government stretch their regulatory tentacles into our homes and determine what kind of light bulbs we have to use,” Blackburn said on the floor. “Now they’re coming for our ceiling fans.” Her amendment to block funds for developing new standards was approved by voice vote.

But the House bill is on a financial collision course with appropriators in the Senate, where the upper chamber’s Appropriations Committee has carved out a version with a price tag $4.4 billion higher. Several lawmakers believe Congress is once again on a path leading to stopgap spending measures to keep the government running.